Maintaining balance

WILKES-BARRE – Dan Landesberg and Jana Kass have been sure to remain active the past four months as the coronavirus pandemic has torn through Northeastern Pennsylvania and the country.

It hasn’t always been easy considering the husband-and-wife duo both work in healthcare.

Dan is associate vice president of operations for the Geisinger’s northeast region, while Jana Kass is a nurse informatician, also for Geisinger’s northeast region.

But they’ve been staying active by running, playing tennis or doing just about anything that can be done outdoors.

According to Dr. Shahida Fareed, a clinical psychologist, the Back Mountain couple are doing exactly what they should be doing to remain healthy, both physically and mentally, during the pandemic.

“There are immediate and long-term benefits,” Fareed said of keeping active despite shutdown orders, social distancing requirements, mask-wearing mandates and other restrictions that have come with the pandemic.

In the short-term, Fareed pointed to the stress relief that exercise can provide to helping a person keep their wits about them during difficult times. But there are other advantages, she said.

“You will sleep better. You will eat better,” she added.

In the long term, keeping active during the pandemic offers all the advantages that keeping active any time does. A regular exercise program will help prevent chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, Fareed added.

Dan and Jana both seemed to agree with Fareed.

“When you are dealing with something like this your whole sense of normalcy really goes out the window,” Dan said. “You are not dealing with your normal pressures.

“The one thing for us is we have always taken exercise seriously. That’s what we really used to gain balance and to refocus on what we needed to do and what was important ot us. It’s just always been a really important part of our routine.”

Keeping that routine is important, according to Fareed.

“A routine gives us a sense of structure to our day,” Fareed said. “Routines allow us to accomplish tasks that we set for our selves.

“A routine allows to feel like we have accomplished something and gives us the confidence to keep moving.”

Of course, the coronavirus has wreaked havoc with everyone’s routine.

“The hours at work have definitely been demanding,” Dan said.

However, for Dan and Jana, that means making sure to find time to exercise whenever they can.

It also means finding ways to work out that allow for social distancing. For example, Dan’s regular basketball games have been on hold since the pandemic began.

“It’s different,” Jana said. “I know that Dan has been playing a lot more tennis.

“I typically work out at a gym maybe once or twice a week, but I haven’t been to a gym since COVID began, so we made a little gym in our basement.”

Being able to be flexible and make the most out of opportunities to be active, as Dan and Jana do, is crucial, according to Fareed.

“It doesn’t have to be a long activity,” she said, “If you have a staircase, walk the staircase (for exercise).”

Most importantly, Fareed said that if a person begins to feel overwhelmed or depressed due to the challenges of the pandemic they should seek help.

“Connect with family and friends,” she advised. “If you don’t feel comfortable, reach out to a doctor or physician. Don’t delay reaching out for help.

“It’s OK to ask for help.”